Achille Castiglioni has supported and appreciated the work of Lorenzo Damiani Lorenzo Damiani
awarding it the Progetto Giovane-Compasso d'Oro
in 1998. In response to a competition organized by Osram who asked competitors to design a new light bulb, the architect/designer decided not to reinvent the object itself but to reconceptualize its use. Packlight
, on exhibit at the Studio Museum
, comes from the idea of using a common Osram Deluxe light bulb and also its carton as a lampshade. Costs are reduced, thus stimulating the reuse of packaging that would normally be discarded after purchase. What unites Castiglioni and Damian are not formal aspects but the testing, the simplicity of production and the sensitivity to user-friendly design.

As in the case of the master, Damian's work derives from the observation of and inspiration from common objects; it is the result of testing materials and understanding their capacities, in a language that minimizes the relationship between form and function.

In the case of Bend
seating which represents explicit assonance with the Allunaggio
lawn chair designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1965, the details are based on exploiting the potential of common cold bent tubular steel. The same technique is used for the handle in Folder that, precisely because of its simplicity, does not resonate with companies that prefer heavier materials and die casting techniques.

Onlyone by Lorenzo Damiani

He defines some of his objects as belonging to often non-commercial "anonymous design." He uses scraps of Murano glass to decorate bowls, poor materials such as chipboard to produce containers that look like travertine, parts of already finished products that are decomposed, recomposed and reconceived.

The exhibition brings together several projects that are brilliant, full of meaning and ethics; and interesting because they always follow a specific research method but do not claim a single formal style.